ENERGY
Why advocacy matters NOW
The 2025 B20 cycle produced 30 recommendations developed by more than 3 000 business leaders across eight task forces, including the Energy Mix & Just Transition Task Force. The focus is execution: how to secure the financing, standards and skills that turn sustainability goals into tangible outcomes.
Three key insights...
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Credibility now equals implementation: The value of international policy lies in what countries actually build, retrofit and finance.
Energy efficiency is the first fuel: Demand-side savings are the fastest and most inclusive way to cut emissions.
Efficiency: Africa’ s immediate opportunity In South Africa, residential water heating consumes 40-60 percent of household electricity( Saving Energy South Africa Residential DSM Study, 2024). Reducing that single demand category could permanently shift peak load and ease grid strain quicker and more cost effectively than new generation projects can come online.
Efficiency is not the glamorous part of the energy story, but it is the most democratic. It creates work for local technicians, lowers monthly bills for households and SMEs, and frees scarce supply for industrial use. For policymakers, it offers the fastest proof that climate ambition can translate into economic inclusion.
The B20 call to action
The B20 Energy Mix & Just Transition Task Force highlights four immediate priorities for governments and industry:
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Inclusion must be intentional. Women, youth and SMEs have to be integrated into energytransition value chains from the start. |
1 Set enforceable standards:
2 Adopt performancebased finance:
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Phased efficiency and safety standards, aligned with local manufacturing capability, give investors and consumers confidence.
Blended-finance tools and guarantee schemes can de-risk efficiency and small-scale renewable projects.
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According to the International Energy Agency, emerging economies will need to increase clean energy investment sixfold by 2030 to stay on a net-zero pathway( World Energy Outlook 2023). That scale of capital will only flow where policy clarity and verified impact exist.
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Invest in skills: |
Technical and vocational programmes must |
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produce the artisans, auditors and installers |
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who can deliver at scale. |
4 Measure everything:
Transparent measurement-and-verification( M & V) frameworks are the foundation for both public trust and private funding.
Together, these measures create an ecosystem in which cleaner technologies are not aspirational – they’ re bankable.
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